


On the Double

by Sunnie14



Series: All Thanks to Molly [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Double Dating, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-22
Updated: 2013-10-22
Packaged: 2017-12-30 02:55:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1013224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunnie14/pseuds/Sunnie14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Louis finally get the double date off of Niall and Liam. It has quite interesting implications</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Double

**Author's Note:**

> It's so obviously fiction and for fun not to be taken seriously as real.

“You are killing me,” Niall whined, as he jogged behind Liam and Molly. “I hate you! I hate you so much right now!” 

“No you don’t,” Liam grinned, “almost there, babe,” he threw over his shoulder. Liam turned up Niall and Zayn’s driveway and took Molly into the backyard. Niall dragged along behind, huffing and puffing. “Come on, you poor thing,” Liam picked Niall up bridal style, “I’m so mean making you exercise.”

“You are! I’m so tired and sore,” Niall allowed himself to be carried into the house and the living room. Liam deposited him on the couch and then went into the kitchen. He grabbed a couple of water bottles and came back into the living room. He handed one to Niall before sitting down on the couch under Niall’s feet. 

“How was the run?” Zayn came out of his room to see the pair. 

“Horrible, he actually made me run and sprint!” Niall complained as Liam laughed. Liam untied Niall’s shoes and dropped them at the end of the couch before peeling off his socks.

“See, see that is how I know he actually loves you and I don’t have to beat him up,” Zayn took a seat on the other couch, “No one else would willing be by your feet unless they loved you.”

“I object to that and would counterpoint the previous RUNNING!” Niall said and Liam laughed some more. 

“You poor baby,” Liam massaged Niall’s feet, moving up his calves and shins to his knees. He quickly shifted over to Niall’s bad knee and gave it a good rub. Niall melted further into the couch and let out a moan that would have been more suited to the bedroom. 

Liam stopped as both he and Zayn stared at Niall. “Hey, don’t stop, that is fantastic,” Niall nudged Liam with his toe of his good leg.

“We can tell,” Zayn replied, “Does he always sound like a two-bit whore or is this a special occasion?” Zayn looked to Liam.

“Nope, special occasion but now that I know how to do it, I think it might become a more common occurrence,” Liam said as he resumed his ministrations on Niall’s knee. 

“Just not when I’m around,” Zayn reminded them of the rule of the house. 

“We know,” Niall and Liam said together. They smiled at each other. 

“Hey guys!” Harry and Louis walked in the door.

“From third wheel to fifth wheel, I’m headed out,” Zayn said, getting up. The four looked at each other while listening to Zayn rummage around and then he walked out the door. 

“Is he becoming a bit of a whore or is that just me?” Harry said as he and Louis cuddled up on the couch.

“Yeah, I keep meaning to talk to him about it but I haven’t yet. How do you tell your friend he’s becoming a manwhore?” Niall agreed with Louis. 

“Simple, you say, ‘Zayn, I think you’re acting like a manwhore and should stop sleeping around before you get some kind of disease that haunts you for the rest of your life’, or something like that,” Louis supplied.

“Yeah, that works,” Niall conceded, “What do you think, Liam? Sit down and help me have that chat or do I have to do it alone?”

“I’d rather not incur his wrath. I think you might be the only one who can withstand it because he’d take it easy on you,” Liam replied, “He likes you best so I think you can handle it on your own.”

“Pussy,” Louis called, Harry giggled.

“He’d take it easy on his sisters too,” Niall mused, “But you’re right, gotta tackled it on my own. That’s going to be fun. Can I put it off until summer?”

“Yeah, you can’t take fucking away from a poor soul so close to exams,” Harry agreed, “If this is a vote, that’s mine.”

“Speaking of voting, I think we should take another on the double date idea,” Louis added.

“How is that a speaking of?” Liam asked, “Never mind, I don’t want to know how your mind works.”

“So re-vote because I’m for it,” Louis said.

Liam and Niall looked at each other. They’d been dating for over six months now so the excuse they still needed dates together alone. Liam shrugged, “No dark movie theatres,” Niall wanted those conditions before he agreed to anything. 

Louis groaned and Harry slapped him in the shoulder, “Agreed. So what else is there to do if not dinner and a movie?”

“There’s a flea market slash farmer’s market Saturday mornings, downtown area,” Liam said.

“Boo, getting up early!” the other three gave a thumbs down.

“Just the flea market is also open on Wednesday afternoons,” Liam added, “We could all go with like two pounds and see who can get the strangest object.”

“Better,” Harry said and Niall nodded. 

“But I think booze need to be involved,” Louis said.

“So dinner and drinks afterwards,” Niall said, “agreed?”

“Agreed,” they all planned to meet at the house about four.

The following Wednesday, Niall and Liam were lounging around the living room with the TV playing in the background. They ended up waiting 30 minutes for Harry and Louis to arrive, late as usual. (“Should have told them three,” Niall muttered to Liam as they got into the backseat of Louis’s car.) Louis was a horrid driver, had the music too loud, sped, breaked hard, sharp turns but they made it to the flea market in one piece.

“So everyone got two pounds?” Liam checked. 

“Wait, are we playing teams or not?” Louis asked.

“We can play teams, but only four pounds per team, got it?” Niall fully expected Louis and Harry to cheat but it worth at least saying once. They split ways and Niall held out his hand for Liam to take and hold.

“You know they are going to spend half the allotted hour making out somewhere,” Liam said.

“Yep, that’s what I’m counting on,” Niall grinned, “So we got all kinds of thingies, whatnots, do-dads, and everything else under the sun,” Niall looked around at the stands, old women selling handmade things, younger women also selling handmade things as well as t-shirts. There could be anything in these stalls.

“We could find someplace to snog for a few minutes as well,” Liam breathed into Niall’s ear. 

“Or we could grab a pint and find something, win and get 2 drinks courteous of Harry and Louis in which I order something top shelf and bask in the glory of winning,” Niall counter offered. 

“Works for me,” Liam agreed. They were already downtown so they walked into the nearest pub on the main street and sat at the bar. “Two beers,” Liam ordered for the pair of them. “So do you have someone to judge the weirder item?”

“I just thought we’d call up Zayn and ask him over the phone, maybe send pictures,” Niall answered, “Also bending slightly in our favor, hopefully Louis and Harry don’t notice.”

“They probably will and we’ll have to get another opinion from one of their friends and we end up asking a random stranger at a booth,” Liam reasoned out. 

“You know, this was a great idea,” Niall said after they had their drinks.

“The beer?” Liam wasn’t sure what he was referring to.

“No, the flea market. Doesn’t feel like a double date yet, glad to be alive after Louis’ driving but doesn’t feel like a double date yet, which is good. Dinner could get weird,” Niall remarked. 

“Harry and Louis are involved, it’s always weird with them,” Liam replied. 

“They are so weird!”

“But I wouldn’t take them any other way. You need weird people in a group, keeps things interesting.”

“True,” Niall started to chuckle, “Louis might be the most entertaining person to walk into that house. I won’t forget the time he tried to cook a romantic dinner for Harry last December when Harry had the flu. Zayn was sure he was going to burn down the house and just stood in our kitchen holding a fire extinguisher. Louis kept telling him that it wouldn’t be needed, he could actually cook some and he wasn’t going to burn the house down. Then something caught on fire and Zayn saved the day and the house.”

“I used to want to be a fireman,” Liam said.

“Really? Did I know that, I might have known that, maybe not,” Niall shrugged, “Anyways, the look on Harry face when he came out of his room, all of us yelling in the kitchen, priceless.”

“So finished?” Liam asked as they both tipped bottoms up on their pints.

“Yeah,” Niall nodded as Liam laid down a few pounds for the drinks. 

“I’m thinking a wacky sculpture or clay formation might be a good idea,” Liam said as they wondered back among the stands. 

“I think I saw some on our way to the pub down this aisle,” Niall pointed.

Liam took a hold of Niall’s hand again and said, “Let’s go.” It ended up being the wrong aisle and the correct one was just to the left but Liam wasn’t surprised by it. 

They found a stall selling lots of unique salt and pepper shakers. “Look,” Niall pointed to a back shelf, “Bottom left. Two pigs fucking as salt and pepper shakers, what do you think?”

“Very accurate description, let’s get it,” Liam approached the woman running the booth and bought the salt and pepper shakers, “Yeah, there is no difference here between the pigs, so I think they’re both male, yeah?”

“Works better that way,” Niall agreed, “So walk back towards the meeting place?”

“Yeah, there was a tree we can snog under,” Liam nodded. 

“One track mind with you today,” Niall grinned, “I like it!”

An hour after they arrived at the flea market, the two pairs met near Louis’ car and pulled out their items. They found a pair of earrings that looked like bottle caps with ‘You’ written on one and ‘Tube’ on the other in the design of the website. Liam pulled out the fucking pigs one at a time and Louis started celebrating the win before Liam set the on the car, positioning them properly. “Very accurate,” Harry said, “I think that wins Lou.”

“Fucking pigs do trump YouTube earrings,” Louis agreed.

“Told you they’d win,” Niall grinned, “So anyone else hungry cause I’m starving and ready for dinner.”

“Lets it a pub for dinner and drinks, we’re already downtown,” Liam suggested.

“Good for me,” Harry and Louis agreed. Liam and Niall made sure they chose a different pub than they’d already been in earlier.

“So honest, how long did you guys spend snogging before finding the earrings?” Niall asked after they were in a pub and had ordered food and they all had a beer in front of them.

“Like thirty minutes, you?” Harry answered honestly while Louis looked at him like he shocked Niall would ask such a question and then he smacked Harry, “You weren’t supposed to tell them that!”

“We had a pint, found the pigs and spent the last twenty minutes snogging too,” Liam shrugged, “We are predictable creatures.”

“Maybe you are but I pride myself on being completely unpredictable,” Louis asserted. 

“True,” Harry added with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Nope, don’t need to know anything about that,” Niall held up his hands, “Should have been in the rules about the double date, no talk of sex. I don’t need to know anything about your sex life and I don’t want to know about mine either, strict boundaries!”

“So if you don’t like talking about other people’s sex life, how will you talk to Zayn about his whorish behavior?” Louis asked.

“In metaphors, got any good ones?” Niall asked. 

“Zayn, you’re acting like a penny,” Louis started, “And when you get a blank look, and if you’re unsure what that looks like, just look in the mirror, and then you tell him, you’re in everyone’s pants and acting like your worthless.”

“Yeah, that was brilliant, are you sure you don’t want to have that conversation with him instead of me?” Niall was impressed.

“I don’t think he’d listen to me,” Louis replied.

“True, but that’s because you spend most of your time at our house snogging on our couch,” Niall informed him.

“Duh, because then he gets grumpy and pouty which makes his cheekbones more prominent which I think we can all agree is really sexy, yeah?” Louis explained.

The other three sat back and thought about it for a moment, “He does do that!” Niall nearly shouted, “No wonder you’re always annoying him. He makes that sexy, pouty face.”

“I never noticed before,” Liam mused, “But I can see it. I’ve never met anyone with cheekbones like Zayn.”

The conversation jumped here and there while they waited and then ate their food. After their plates were cleared away and they all had another drink Harry suggested another game or challenge, teams of course though. “First challenge is for someone on each team to get another person’s phone number,” Harry said.

“What’s the reward?” Niall asked.

“Losing team buys the winning team a shot,” Harry said.

“Double if it’s a girl’s number!” Louis added.

“Deal,” Niall stuck out his hand and shook on it with Harry. They all left the table with empty pints on top, “So you try to get a girl’s number, we know I can’t do it and I’ll just try for a guy’s number, yeah?” Niall turned to Liam. Liam agreed and they went about looking for numbers. 

The pair lost this challenge to Harry and Louis in less than five minutes. “This was really wasn’t fair,” Liam said as Harry waved around the number he scored, “How is any girl in this bar going to turn down Harry with those big eyes and curls? I don’t care gay or straight, no one can resist?”

“I can’t help what my mum gave me,” Harry just grinned.

“New challenge then,” Niall said, “Everyone go buy a cocktail, don’t tell anyone else in the group what you’re ordering and then meet at that table over there.” Niall went to the table to keep it as Liam and Louis went to opposite ends of the bar. Niall watched Harry walk over to the loo. Liam returned first, Louis was flirting with a pretty bartender, probably trying to get his cocktail for free or cheap. Harry went to the end of the bar Liam had been at. Niall got up and went to the middle of the bar and got his cocktail, Mai Tai. Niall went back and sat next to Liam at the table. Louis was the last to return to the table, quite pleased with himself. 

“You put a lot of work into that, I hope it’s good,” Liam noted.

“Alright, so everyone takes a sip of the drinks and makes a guess at what it is, writing it down,” Niall explained.

“None of us have pen or paper,” Harry pointed out.

“Type it out in a text then,” Niall pulled out his phone and opened a new text message.

“Ok, everyone pass their drink to their left,” Liam took charge and everyone followed the order. They each took a sip of the drink, typed out their guess. They repeated until they had their own cocktail back in front of them.

“Ok, let’s guess Harry’s drink,” Niall started, pointing across the table at his roommate, “Well text it to him and Harry you tell us if we got it right.”

They all texted Harry their guessed. Harry grinned as the texts came in. “So?” Louis asked expectantly.

“You got it right babe,” Harry gave him a quick kiss, “And so did Niall but you don’t get a kiss, not from me.”

“Wait, what was it?” Liam asked.

“Sex on the Beach,” Louis answered, “Great in both senses.”

“When have you had sex on a beach?” Harry asked incredulously.

“You don’t need to worry about it love,” Louis grinned.

“On to Liam’s drink, everyone, answers in,” Niall proceeded with the game. Niall knew from the instant he thought of the game what Liam would order, as Liam said earlier, they were predictable creatures, or at least, Liam was. But that was one of the many things that Niall loved about Liam, his dependability. 

“Not surprised, Niall’s correct,” Liam leaned over and pecked him like Harry had done to Louis, “And so did Louis, sorry Harry.”

“I know my drinks!” Louis grinned.

“We’re tied two for two,” Niall reminded him, “Irish over here and we definitely know our drinks.”

“Then Louis, what was my drink?” Liam asked. 

“7 and 7,” Louis supplied, “Also known by old folks as a highball. I’d guess that your dad drinks it also?”

“Yeah,” Liam blushed a light pink.

“Then let’s move on to Louis’ drink,” Niall said.

“You’ll never guess it,” Louis grinned.

“Nope, got it,” Niall answered confidently as he sent his text after Liam and Harry had already sent their answered.

“Wrong, love,” Louis said, “Wrong, Liam, and...How the fuck did you get this Niall? I fucking made it up!”

“I know my liqueurs,” Niall shrugged.

“And the answer is?” Liam asked, “By the way, if you did make it up Louis, you make nasty drinks, just to let you know. That thing was disgusting.”

“Three parts gin, two parts vodka, one part brandy, probably the part that made it taste bad to you Liam, and then a splash of orange juice, which also probably didn’t help,” Niall answered. 

“No wonder it took so long for you to get your drink,” Liam said.

“And now mine, good luck Louis, you need it unless you want to lose,” Niall taunted in a singsong voice. 

“I have it,” Louis’ voice changed as he really started to get competitive, more serious.

“Hey, you got it!” Niall read Liam’s text. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to Liam’s cheek.

“Why the tone of surprise?” Liam asked.

“Sorry,” Niall chuckled, “Harry has a point and Louis?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Louis pressed send on his text.

“And it is correct,” Niall confirmed after reading the text. 

“So what happens now?” Harry asked.

“Both of you go get a new drink and we’ll guess that way. If we’re tied after that, then well, we’ve tasted a lot of good cocktails, save Louis’ of course,” Niall answered. He picked up his Mai Tai and finished it off, “Off you go.”

Harry and Liam got up and left the table to get two more drinks. “I think I like this challenge, good idea,” Louis said. 

“We’ve never had a drink together have we, more than just a beer in the living room,” Niall said, “Why did we wait this long?”

“No idea,” Louis answered, “But it needs to happen again. I mean, I love Harry but he can’t handle his liqueur so well and I don’t want to take care of him all night, not when there so many other things we could be doing many other fun things, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. Liam’s got this kidney thing and doesn’t drink much either, which means I don’t drink too much, you know, don’t want to get too sloppy,” Niall chuckled, “So drinking buddies?”

“Fuck yeah, Zayn can come too even if he likes,” Louis and Niall high-fived. 

“Probably not on Zayn,” Niall shook his head, “He’ll want to find a partner for the night and he’s afraid of the choices you would pick out for him because you butt into everything.”

“I do not!” Louis countered.

“You do too!” Harry walked back over to the table with a drink in hand, Liam next to him, “What do you do?”

“He butts into everything,” Niall supplied.

“Yeah, he does that,” Harry confirmed, “What is he butting into now?”

“Oh, if we went drinking with Zayn and Zayn wanted to find a hook-up, Louis would try to help him find the partner and I just don’t think it would end well for either of them and especially me,” Niall explained. 

“Depends on what Zayn is looking for,” Harry said, “Could go either way.”

“I don’t want to take that chance and neither should you. If it went badly, you couldn’t have your boyfriend back over to our house. Zayn and I have lived there longest, we out rank you.”

“I think we just need to lock Zayn and Louis in a closet and let them hash it all out,” Liam suggested.

“They’d either end up killing each other or fucking and I don’t like either outcome,” Harry shot that suggestion down. 

“Why do you assume that?” Louis looked offended.

“Because it’s true,” the other three all said together in different variations.

“On one hand though, if there were no girls or guys involved and Zayn, Louis and I all got drunk together once, I think it could all be smoothed over,” Niall said after a moment’s thought, “And what are your thoughts on football again Louis?”

“Love it, played for a pub team for a while,” Louis answered.

“Saturday, we’ll get together to watch all the day’s footy matches with a couple packs of beer, it’ll be worked out,” Niall planned, “If you can let him go for that long,” Niall added towards Harry.

“We’re not connected at the hip,” Harry rolled his eyes.

“Yes you are,” Liam and Niall said together.

“We kind of are babe,” Louis shrugged it off, “But it’ll be fine.”

“I do live at the house too, why can’t I join in?” Harry asked.

“You distract Louis, not that hard to figure out is it?” Liam answered, “What about you and I do something, what does Louis hate to do?”

Harry sat and thought for a moment, “I have an idea, meet me at the house and we’ll go from there.”

“Well, we’ll meet at the house about 1, you good with that, time to sleep in and all,” Niall looked to Louis.

“Yep,” Louis nodded.

“Us too?” Harry and Liam agreed to the time too.

With all the plans set, they continued on with the challenge. “I don’t even need to try that one to know what it is,” Louis pointed at the drink in front of Harry.

“Yeah, me too, guesses?” Niall and Louis sent in their guesses to Harry.

“Yes, it’s a White Russian,” Harry sighed. 

“But I still want a sip,” Niall reached over and downed about half of the drink.

“Hey, give it here!” Louis snatched it from him and finished it off.

“And the last one,” Liam slid it over between them. Niall sipped it first and grinned, recognizing it immediately. He slid it over to Louis. Niall texted his answer to his boyfriend and reached for Liam’s 7 and 7. “I never said you could have another sip of that,” Liam said as he checked the message.

“Then it is a good thing I didn’t ask,” Niall leaned over and kissed Liam.

“Answer in,” Louis interrupted them.

Liam groaned but broke the kiss to check the message, “And you’re both correct with an Amaretto Sour.”

“It’s one of my favorites,” Niall took the drink back from Louis and sipped it until it was gone. 

“I know,” Liam grinned and kissed his boyfriend.

They all chatted as the drinks were finished off, mostly by Louis and Niall. “So who’s ready to go?” Louis held up his car keys, “and drive too because I think it would be a bad idea for me to drive, yeah, right? I think so.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Liam took the keys, “So you or me?” Liam looked at Harry.

“You,” Harry answered.

“You’re not sitting in the back with Louis and snogging,” Liam warned him, “You’re in the front with me.”

“What if these too make out in the back,” Harry pointed to Niall and Louis.

“I’m not that drunk,” Niall waved his hand at the idea, “I’d have to be a lot more sloppy to even consider making out with Louis.”

“I take offense to that! I am drop dead sexy!” Louis nearly shouted.

“I can vouch for that,” Harry pulled Louis in for a kiss. 

“Alright, off to the car, can you walk straight babe or do you need help?” Liam looked at Niall.

“Need? No, but I really want some help,” Niall accidentally stumbled out of his seat, “I didn’t mean for that to happen but...”

“Yeah, alright, Harry,” Liam looked to his boyfriend’s roommate. Liam wrapped an arm around Niall to keep him steady. Liam wondered if maybe Niall was playing up his inebriated state, that thought was confirmed after Niall groped his ass on the way out the pub. 

“Louis, stop pinching my bum!” Harry complained, apparently both challenge champions had the same idea.

Louis giggled, Niall giggled, they giggled together in the back seat of Louis’ car. Liam got into the driver’s side and safely drove them to the house. “You can stay tonight, you know,” Niall said to Louis, “in Harry’s bed of course, not mine. Mine will be occupied by the maximum number of occupants, two that is. Did that sentence make sense?”

“We got it,” Liam said, “I think.”

“It made sense in my head,” Niall muttered.

“I understood you, don’t worry,” Louis reached over and patted Niall’s knee. 

“I saw that! Hands off!” Liam ordered. 

“Dude, he is sexy when pissed, damn,” Louis leaned up in the backseat to look at Liam, “You just have all the good men wrapped around your finger,” Louis whined.

“And you’re just stuck with me?” Harry looked back at them.

“Of course not babe!” Louis reached forward and ran his hands over Harry’s chest, “And if you get us back to my apartment, I can show you just how sexy I find you.”

“Yeah, we’ll be headed to his apartment afterwards, you can just leave the keys in the ignition,” Harry told Liam.

“Oooh! Hey, we should go to your house too Liam, then I can do like Louis and show you how sexy you are!” Niall leaned forward and put his hands on Liam.

“Stop that,” Liam removed Niall’s hand, “It can wait for another time. I already know I’m drop dead sexy.”

“Spoiled sport,” Niall sighed. 

They got to the house safely. Liam and Niall got out and went into the house as Harry moved to the driver’s seat and Louis to the passenger’s. Liam took Niall’s keys and opened the door.

“Ok, I’m really not that tipsy,” Niall reassured Liam, “It was only fun with Louis, why were Zayn and I on the fence with him?”

“He’s tried to burn down your house and spends a lot of time snogging on your couch,” Liam reminded him. 

“Oh yeah,” Niall remembered, “So, even though Zayn, wait,” Niall peaked in Zayn’s room, “who is fucking asleep, dammit, we can still snog right?”

“Yes,” Liam assured him, “You really think I would stay here with you when you’re tipsy and not snog you?”

“God I hope not,” Niall dragged Liam into his room. 

***

“This is the stupidest idea you have had,” Zayn sighed as he turned on the preview for the football matches of the day, “And it will not end well.”

“Louis likes to make out with Harry on our couch because you make this sexy pouty face that we all agreed is quite attractive, not in the ‘I really want to bang you’ way but like, watching a stripper kind of way,” Niall said from the kitchen.

“Did you just compare me to a stripper?” Zayn asked.

“Yes, but I know that isn’t very accurate,” Niall walked into the living room with a beer for each of them, “At least I really hope you’re not stripping too.”

“Too?”

“Well, you’re already kind of a whore so it’s not a big step to stripper too,” Niall explained.

“Come again?”

“You’ve become a bit of a whore as of lately,” Niall grimaced, hating that he had to do this but as Zayn’s best friend it was his responsibility. “How many people have you fucked this month? Because I’m think you must be closing in on double digits and I don’t like it so I want you to stop. If you want a girlfriend or boyfriend, fine, find one. But that’s it, got it?”

“Niall, come on,” Zayn’s argument was interrupted by the doorbell.

“Don’t say I’m late to the party,” Louis entered after Niall yelled that the door was unlocked. “Harry here or did he already leave with Liam?”

“Left ten minutes ago,” Niall answered.

“Too bad, would have liked a goodbye kiss,” Louis shrugged, “beer in the fridge?”

“Yep,” Niall nodded.

“So which games we watching?” Louis took a seat on one couch while Niall and Zayn were on the other. 

“Merryside-Derby, then City versus Sunderland and the Man U-Arsenal match,” Niall recited. 

“Ah! Good matches then hopefully, any particular team you cheer for?” Louis asked, getting comfortable on the couch.

“The underdog usually,” Niall replied. Niall gave Zayn a glare, he hadn’t said anything to Louis yet but he did have his grumpy face on at full strength. 

“Who do you cheer for,’ Zayn spat out. He was quite upset with Niall and his accusations so he was going to take it out on Louis most likely because he so didn’t want to be here right now.

“I cheer for the players with the best hair styles,” Louis responded. Zayn rolled his eyes, “I’m just kidding. Liverpool has had a pretty decent season and they’d all but secure Champion’s League football for next season with a win but it is at Everton so it’ll be a good game and as much as I like Stevie G for England, I want to see Everton win. City will sweep through Sunderland probably so, like you Niall, I’ll be cheering against Man City, usually do anyways. Man U hasn’t been the same since Fergie left, wouldn’t mind seeing them win and it’s a home game for them and I like seeing home teams win but I do hope the Germans play well for Arsenal. I like them but Theo Walcott can go fuck himself.” Niall gave Zayn another look, Louis did know what he was talking about with football. Zayn refused to chuckle or smile and remained grumpy. 

‘He’s doing the face,’ Niall mouthed to Louis, indicating Zayn. Louis smiled and nodded. 

The pregame show ended and the first game started. Niall and Louis much enjoyed the match, yelling at the TV, well the official, he had to be able to hear them through the TV, for all the ridiculous calls and yelling at the players too (“Shoot! Shoot the fucking ball!” “Who the fuck was that pass to?” “How in fucking hell do you miss that? You’re four fucking yards away!” “Yeah, yeah, like you really had half a fuck’s chance at score from there.”) Overall, it was a good game and a fun watch, especially with Louis’ running commentary about player’s haircuts because he did actually judge the players on them as well as their ability. Louis and Niall each went through a few beers but Zayn barely finished his first. 

“So pizza?” Niall was in the kitchen, “I think it’s time for a snack and it should be coming out of the oven just as the next game starts.”

“Yeah! You cook like I cook,” Louis leaned against the counter in the kitchen, finishing off his third beer, “Anything that can just go straight into the oven or microwave is my kind of food.”

“Totally, I just want to eat, not prepare food,” Niall set the time, grabbed two beers for him and Louis and they went back into the living room. They chatted about players through the pregame show for the Man City game and only stopped to see the starting line-ups. “Predictions?”

“Four-nil,” Louis answered, “City of course.”

Niall looked at Zayn, “Zayn, prediction?”

“Three-one, City,” Zayn answered. 

“And I’m going with four-one,” Niall answered, “So bets?”

“No!” Zayn shot that idea down quickly, “No bets, you always win and I don’t need to owe you any more drinks.”

“Oh yeah! I want to cash some of those in this evening!” Niall remembered. They never bet money but instead bet buying each other drinks and Zayn owed Niall a lot. 

“You want to go to a pub with me after accusing me of being a whore?” Zayn replied.

“I never said I didn’t want you going to pubs anymore, just not home with whoever would have you,” Niall explained, “As I said, if you want a girlfriend, get a girlfriend but don’t fuck every girl who bats an eyelash at you.”

“Oooh! Girlfriend,” Louis’ eyes went big with a wicked smile.

“Yeah, he’s going through a phase,” Niall replied as he got up to get the pizza out of the oven, “Keeps talking about tits and it makes me wanna puke,” Niall continued. 

“Have you actually ever played with tits, they are a bit fun,” Louis was in the kitchen now too pulling out plates as Niall sliced the pizza, “all jiggly.”

“Is Liam’s ass jiggly?” Niall countered.

“No,” Louis answered instantly, “Looks very firm, never had a chance to cop a feel.”

“Well, you don’t need to because I can confirm he does have very firm ass and that is what I like. I don’t want anything jiggly, no offense, you do have a great ass, wouldn’t want it in my hands though,” Niall and Louis both took a few slices of pizza with them back into the living room just after kick off.

“That’s a bit snobbish, only dating really fit guys.”

Niall just shrugged, “What about Marco?” Zayn said, “I wouldn’t call him fit, his ass jiggled if I recall correctly.”

“That doesn’t count, we only went out like twice and never had sex, in fact I never got a good grope at it,” Niall defended himself.

“You went out for a month, I remember because Josh and I had a bet on how long it would last. We bet on it because he wasn’t your normal type and I won that bet. Josh guessed two months and I said four weeks,” Zayn recalled.

“Wait, how many of my relationships did you bet on?” Niall couldn’t believe they would actually do that. They were his best friends. 

“Just that one, it was easy to tell that you had a type after being in a pub with you for about thirty minutes,” Zayn shrugged, “You look for the top five fittest guys in the pub and start working your way through them until one of them agrees to buy you a drink or at least that is what you did when you were single.”

“Don’t worry love, I did the same thing before Harry, but I was looking for the prettiest boy in the place,” Louis said.

“How is Harry pretty?” Zayn asked, “I would use about five other adjectives for him before I got to pretty.”

“Well, he was the third person I talked to that night and,” Louis pulled out his phone and started flipping through his photos, “And before he had his tattoos, with a bit longer curls, he looked innocent and pretty, here,” Louis passed over his phone, “That was the first photo we took together.”

“Holy shit! Look at your hair!” Zayn bust out laughing.

“You were supposed to look at Harry,” Louis said a bit disgruntled.

“Is that a bowl cut?” Zayn was close to crying.

“Dude, it’s not that funny,” Louis got up to snatch his phone away but Zayn held it out of his reach, “Dude, give it!”

“Do you have more like this, and yes, Harry is pretty there, I can see how the description might fit,” Zayn started swiping through the pictures. 

“Zayn, give me the phone! We all go through bad haircuts, now give!” Louis demanded.

“Fine,” Zayn sighed and handed it over.

“Yeah, remember the blonde stripe you had?” Niall reminded him, holding up his phone where he had a picture on display of said hairstyle. “He thought he looked cool, it was sad,” Niall handed the phone over to Louis for revenge.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I did look cool,” Zayn shrugged.

“Reminds me of a skunk and not cute like Flower,” Louis noted. Niall and Zayn gave him a blank look, “Flower, the skunk in Bambi. Harry loves the movie, he cries every time Bambi’s mother dies.”

“Really?” Niall was surprised.

“That’s useful to know,” Zayn grinned, “Gonna store that way for the future.”

“Yeah, Harry may try to be badass and look like it with his tattoos but he’s a softy,” Louis confirmed, “He cries during like every romantic comedy we watch.”

“This is great information, I need to start writing this down,” Zayn looked around for a paper and pen, “Although Niall cries too sometimes.”

“I do not!” Niall tried to defend himself but Zayn and Louis were laughing.

“You definitely tear up!”

“I do not!”

“We need to get them together to watch The Notebook!” Louis was yelling now, excited. 

“Yes! We’ll get a lot of ice cream, all five of us here and watch The Notebook like next weekend, yeah?” Zayn suggested, talking really fast and a few decibels louder than necessary. 

“Yeah, but I have to be drunk to sit all the way through that sappy thing, and not just tipsy because then I start heckling,” Louis liked the idea, “Harry knows better than to try and have me comfort him so Liam might have to pull double duty on that front but this is going to glorious!”

“I have yet to agree to any of this!” Niall shouted above the both of them.

“Dude, you know you’re going to agree to this, you can’t resist,” Zayn rolled his eyes, “You’ll get to watch The Notebook and cuddle with Liam, what kind of excuse can you come up with as to why this is a bad idea?”

“Because you two are going to sit there and tease me and Harry and I wouldn’t mind if it was just Harry (“HEY! I object!”) but I don’t want to sit through that. You didn’t really sell it well for me,” Niall thought it was a pretty damn good reason as to not watch the movie, at least not with them, now with Liam...

“We’ll take a vote whenever Liam and Harry get back,” Louis said, “Then you’ll lose and we’ll watch it next week! Can’t wait, this is going to be great!”

“I hate both of you so much right now,” Niall got up to get another piece of pizza from the kitchen.

“That’s his way of saying he likes you,” Zayn informed Louis, “Actually we both do it.”

“Good to know,” Louis smiled, now he had a goal in mind, to get Zayn say that he hates him then they’d all be good. 

“We missed a goal by the way,” Niall came back into the living room, “David Silva if you care.” They didn’t. Zayn and Louis went on planning in detail the following weekend. It sounded like torture to Niall but extremely fun to Zayn and Louis, who planned to drink all the way through the weekend. They were going to pitch it as a movie-marathon weekend to Liam and Harry to get their approval and over rule Niall. Niall started thinking of ways to get out of it, faking illness and the sort. 

Harry and Liam showed up halfway through the last game of the day to Niall, Louis and Zayn all shouting at the official on the TV for a horrible call. “How the fuck isn’t that a penalty!” “His hand is clearly on him!” “Are you fucking blind?!” 

“So you guys doing well?” Harry asked, “Everything smoothed over?”

“Yes!” Louis smiled, “Come here babe,” Louis beckoned him over to the couch, “Also, we have plans for next weekend.”

“We’re going to get pizza, beer and watch a lot of films, what do you guys think? You in?” Zayn asked as Liam sat down next to Niall and gave him a quick kiss, or at least quicker than Louis and Harry’s. 

“Yeah, sounds great, here?” Harry agreed immediately.

Niall looked at Liam and shook his head now, “Why not?” Liam whispered as Zayn and Louis let Harry in on a few of the details.

“They want to get drunk and watch Harry and I watch the Notebook because Harry apparently always cries and I hate to admit it but I might also and it’s just all plain mean. But if we’re not here then any good karma that started today with Zayn and Louis might be lost,” Niall explained in a rushed whisper. 

“What about you Liam? Are you in?” Zayn pushed into before they could continue their whispered conversation. 

“Yeah, sure, it sounds like a lot of fun,” Liam agreed despite the glare he received from Niall. 

“Great!” Zayn grinned with an ‘I told you so’ look thrown at Niall.

“I’ll make it worth your time, promise,” Liam mumbled into Niall’s ear before kissing right below it. Niall shivered and gave Liam a slight nod and smile. “You want to go back to my place after the game ends?” Liam suggested. 

“What do you think?” Niall answered with a full blown grin now. “So what did you and Harry do?”

“Cleaned Louis’ apartment, complete disaster zone, Harry couldn’t take it anymore and Louis is always a distraction. Then we went to the gym, got dinner and came here,” Liam answered.

“I think I got the better end of the deal.”

Liam shrugged, “I didn’t mind. We pumped up the music, Harry’s a decent singer.”

“But not any better than you?” Niall had really only heard Liam sing in the car but it was enough to go on. 

“Not sure how to judge it but we had some pretty good harmonies going,” Liam replied wrapping his arm around Niall, pulling him closer. 

Niall sighed happily as he snuggled into Liam’s side. He was very content, “I think it will be alright next weekend,” Niall mumbled. It wasn’t meant to come out, it just did when Niall wasn’t filtering the thoughts running through his head. He was very comfortable and relaxes, as he usually was when he was with Liam. 

“Hmmm?” Liam hummed, having not completely heard Niall. 

“Nothing,” Niall ducked his head just a bit further, hoping Liam might not see how red he was turning. 

“What?” No luck, Liam did notice, “Babe, what?”

“Nothing,” Niall repeated. 

“Hey, come on,” Liam pulled Niall up from the kitchen and into the kitchen, away from the other three. It was nearly halftime and they could steal a few minutes away from the others, “What’d you say, babe?”

“Nothing,” Niall said one more time, “It was a stupidly sentimental thought I didn’t mean to say out loud.”

“Now I want to hear,” Liam was leaning against the counter and pulled Niall against him so he was standing between Liam’s feet. Liam had wrapped his arms around Niall’s waist, “Please,” Liam was grinning, dragging out the word.

Niall couldn’t resist, groaning, “I said, it’s could be ok next weekend.”

“And why?” Liam couldn’t stop grinning.

“Don’t make me say it, it’s sappy,” Niall smacked Liam’s chest but then left his hands there because he really couldn’t resist Liam’s firm chest. 

“So I’ve been rubbing off on you then, tell me all about it,” Liam was usually the one spouting off sappy lines between the pair. Niall had these thoughts often too, he just never said them. 

Niall sighed, “Because it will all be ok when I get to be with you, like this, wrapped up in your arms.”

Liam’s face changed from laughing and teasing to serious and loving. It changed to his secret smile that he just had just for Niall, the one that said, ‘You are just so amazing’ and ‘I completely adore you’ and ‘I love you so much’. Liam rubbed his nose with Niall’s nose in an Eskimo kiss. Liam brought one of his hands up and ran his finger through Niall’s hair and then it let it settle on Niall’s cheek. His thumb ran softly over Niall’s cheekbone. “I love you,” Liam whispered.

“I love you too,” Niall whispered back, and leaned in for a sweet but meaningful kiss. 

They didn’t say it often (unlike Harry and Louis who couldn’t go without saying it every ten minutes) but they always made sure to mean it when they said it. They wanted to keep it special and meaningful, something they wouldn’t ever take for granted. 

“Stop snogging in the kitchen! The second half’s about to start!” Zayn broke them from their trance as well as any moment they might be having. Liam and Niall both rolled their eyes and went back into the living room and the second half of the game.


End file.
